Sunday, October 18, 2015

Another last day.

There is a good deal of tidying up to
be done – Perdita loves helping with that – and of rearranging the
house back to invalid care. I mean to cook myself a farewell paella
this evening, from a chilli book. I'll probably be too tired, and go
to bed on a sausage.

I am sorry for what I said yesterday
about the Man in the Corner. (I have amended it slightly.) I am no
expert, but we saw a good deal of dementia during my husband's long
weeks in the Royal Victoria and of course I have seen it in real
life. My husband's own short term memory has faded noticeably.

I don't think the Man in the Corner
qualifies, either for Alzheimer's or autism. I take him for one of
those show-off oddballs who desperately needs love while actively
repelling it, a personality defect rather than a definable mental
illness. I can remember one or two when I
was a student. He was reciting bits of the Waste Land yesterday,
rather well.

Theologically,
the sumo wrestler is a much more serious problem. There is a man of
whom it is almost certainly true to say that he never had a chance.
He has probably never had a job. His mother may once have loved him,
but it is hard to believe that anyone does now. Doctors, nurses and
fellow-patients were unanimous in their relief when he left
Respiratory.

But if
one is going to believe anything, one has to believe that God loves
him and has put him on earth for a purpose. If one is going to
believe in Christianity, one has to believe that God died for him.

Knitting

Mary
Lou, I took your advice and knit more Dunfallandy triangle yesterday.
There remain eight rows to do on the 4th
triangle, and if tidying-up and rugby are not too demanding, I might
even finish. Then I can present myself to my husband tomorrow with
the vest virtuously back in-hand.

I
think I have found a mistake in the final row, the one that only
triangles have. I think there is a “purl 4” in the middle of the
row which should be “purl 6”. It's all rather confusing, and
there is no mention that I can see of errata, either on Ravelry or
Knitty. Confusing, because the row involves two triple decreases.
They are easy enough to do, but it is not entirely easy to work out
in one's head exactly which
three stitches have been eliminated.

Also,
the work has a marker in the centre which is extremely useful as a
star-to-steer-by. But on this last row, the vital “sm”
instruction is missing.

I also
knit a couple more rounds of the Leapman hat. The yarn is, as
advertised, deliciously cosy and warm and soft. But it is not
luxurious and silky like cashmere or alpaca. There's something more
homey about it.

Now,
to work.

Go,
Scotland! Go, Ireland! The southern hemisphere is having things all
its own way so far. Granddaughter Lizzie reports from Australia that
no one Down There seems very interested. Could that be true?

If Lizzie were in Sydney, she would find great interest in the Rugby! Radio and papers are full of comment, and those of us who care will be out of bed at 2.0am tomorrow to watch the game unfold.May your next week of domestic rearrangement go well, with knitting time undiminished.

Just watched Scotland vs Oz - what a heartbreaker, and on a controversial call. Mark Bennet's run was amazing - obviously Scots run well in pouring rain! Fully agree, Jean - if we believe at all, we believe that Colin is loved. Man in the Corner actually sounds like fun to listen to, perhaps not for hours on end.- Beth in Ontario